Kindle help?

[Jester]

As many of you know, I have been considering getting a Kindle, an iPad, and/or a laptop.

Lately, I am getting nearer to deciding on getting a laptop AND a Kindle, and really want the Kindle before my trip to Phoenix in mid-January.

But I have some important questions for those of you familiar with the Kindle.

Most importantly, what the hell is the major difference between the wifi and 3G versions? According to one seemingly balanced review, the 3G, which is more expensive by a good margin, is actually slower on the net than the wifi. If that is the case, why would anyone get the 3G? What are its advantages over the wife version?

I do know that the Kindle is mainly for reading, and anything you did with it online beyond purchasing more books for it would be for reading purposes, not interacting (i.e., reading a website, not participating in a discussion or chat forum). So what's the difference?

Also, how many books does the Kindle come with? I know it comes with several classics, but I have yet to see which or how many.

Also, when they say it has a multi-week battery life (other than surfing), are they serious? Can you honestly sit there and read multitudes of books without ever powering the sucker down? Is it that good?

And, overall, what are your opinions of the Kindle, either wifi or 3G versions?

Inquiring Jesters want to know.

[Peppergirl]

Do you have your heart set on a Kindle, Jester? I did some research and chose the Nook. One advantage with the Nook is that most major libraries have an electronic borrowing section nowadays and the format is is supported by Nook. Kindle doesn't support it, at least not my library's format.

I did some research on both, and that was one of the deciding factors for me.

Although - my dad got my mom a Kindle for Christmas, so when I'm down there, I'm sure I'll be called upon to set it up and load some books for her. I'll be able to get a decent comparison by then and will up date you accordingly if you'd like.

BTW - Dave1982 has an iPad. He might be able to give you some detailed info or opinions on it.

Edited to add: I also have the link to a really good website that streamlines all of the book options and formats. They detail various 'book of the day' deals and many of them are free - and legit. It's www.inkmesh.com. I realize that's placing the 'cart before the horse', but it might be worth bookmarking and saving it for after you make your purchase.

[Jester]

A few comments are in order:

If I get the Kindle and a laptop, which is shaping up to be the most likely scenario, I will not need an iPad.

As great as the iPad looks, it would not be a substitute for a laptop, which I am becoming more and more convinced I need. A Kindle would be a bonus present to myself, on top of the laptop.

Which, if I get both a laptop and a Kindle, would make the iPad superfluous. As much as I would like to ignore it, I DO have a budget, and a laptop and Kindle fit nicely into it, whereas an iPad really does not, once I take into account what I really need out of these devices.

So ignoring the iPad for now, yes, I kind of have my heart set on a Kindle, for a few reasons. 1. For an e-reader, it gets the best reviews. 2. It has a huge library. Not all of it is free, mind you, but it is there, and that is a major plus, as my reading tastes tend to be rather eclectic. 3. I don't really bother with the local library much. It tends to be rather unimpressive, and frankly, I can't remember the last time I set foot in there (we are talking years, not months), don't know if my account is still active or supported, and am far more familiar with amazon than the local library.

[Peppergirl]

Got it..totally understandable. I'm really lucky that the Cincinnati library is one of the best in the midwest. My tastes are somewhat varied (although likely not as much as yours), but not so much that I don't find lots of things on it to borrow and read for free.

See how the thread plays out and if you get any good tips. I'll update after I've played with my moms a bit after Christmas and let you know what I think.

[Kaylyn]

I have a 3G Kindle. The main difference between the 3G and the WiFi version is that the 3G one can get online anywhere you can pick up a 3G signal, aka it works like cell phone internet. It's pretty speedy when you actually are on a wifi network, like when I'm at home, but if you're just picking up a signal from a cell tower, it slows down considerably. But if you're somewhere where there's no wifi and you hear about a book and want to look it up on the Kindle, you can.

Oh, and the 3G service is free. Amazon picks up the cost of it, so no monthly fee. Plus, it has a browser built in. It's considered experimental, but it does work. I even posted on here from it one night at work when I had an incident I needed to get off my chest and ask advice for.

So basically, if you're going to be in the range of a wifi network most of the time and you want to save money, stick with the wifi version. If you'd like to be able to shop from pretty much anywhere, consider the 3G.

[trailerparkmedic]

Yes, the battery does last that long. I don't know if it lasts weeks like they say since I don't own one, but my friends who own Kindles have commented on how long the battery lasts. The screen isn't backlit, so it doesn't drain power like normal screens.

If you want to check out free books, you can do so through the Amazon website. I downloaded the Kindle reader onto my laptop so I could read some of the free stuff. Most of the free books are out of copyright classics, like Charles Dickens or Jane Austin.

[MaggieTheCat]

Minneyar has a Kindle, so this is another topic for him to comment in...I'll point him in this direction later tonight when he gets home. I can say from personal experience that the screen is really sweet. As trailerparkmedic said, it's not backlit so it doesn't drain power constantly; the only time it actually uses its battery power is when you need to change the screen (such as when you turn the page of the book you're reading.) Since it's not backlit you do need light to be able to read and the Kindle itself doesn't come with a light. But any light that you can read a normal book in, you can read a Kindle in too. Minneyar got a cover for his that came with a little extend-able light that works just fine.

[Minneyar]

Hi there. X-D

So, some people have already commented on the differences. One thing to keep in mind is that both versions of the Kindle can access Wifi networks, so they'll be equally speedy in those areas. That won't do you much good if you don't have a wireless router at home or don't hang out at some place that has one, though. On the other hand, the 3G version can also download stuff over 3G cell phone networks (which includes most of them nowadays). It's not as fast, but books are small, anyway, so they only take a few seconds to download.

So anyway, the deal with the screen is that it doesn't use an LCD screen like your typical laptop computer. The screen is basically made up of bubbles containing black & white ink, and the electronics in the thing can control which color of ink floats up to the surface of the bubble in order to make grayscale images. The cool thing here is that it only drains electricity when changing the screen (that is, flipping a page) -- just staying on the same image doesn't drain power at all. I haven't plugged mine into the charger in maybe two weeks and the battery is still over half full. That was a big selling point for me -- I can take it on business trips with me and not even worry about bringing the charger.

It's also perfectly readable in bright light, just like a normal page. There is one disadvantage to that, though, which is that it's unreadable without light, just like a normal page. The contrast on the screen also isn't quite as good as your average printed page, so it's a little hard to read in dim light, too, but a good book light or lamp will fix that.

Technically it does not come with any books, but there are a lot of free ones out there. Amazon has a page where you can peruse their free selection: http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link...d_i=1286228011
There's also plenty of free newer stuff out there, too. Just recently I finished reading Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker, a relatively new fantasy novel that he released for free as an experiment. It can display plain old PDF and txt files, too, although it's a bit slow at displaying PDFs with high-quality images.

[Jester]

Since I am a klutz I plan on getting a protective cover. Since Amazon makes one that has a built-in (and retractable) light that has gotten amazing reviews, I'm leaning towards that one. So light or no light won't be an issue for me.

Quick question: can you store non-book files into a Kindle? I know it has a keyboard...is that just for browsing? Or can you actually type things into it and create word-type files. I am wondering mostly for the possibility of storing my recipes in my Kindle along with the books I download, or of typing new recipes that I create into it, but also just for the occasional note that I might want to jot down for later use. It would be really cool if I could do this, but not a huge thing if I can't.

As for wifi, my entire apartment is wifI, and we also have it (though not for public use) at The Bar, so I am not seeing why I would need to drop the extra fifty on the 3G version. Are people really that impatient that they can't wait to get a book they want? And is that really the only benefit to the 3G?

By the way, I don't have a smart phone, so I don't think I currently have a 3G network via my cell company. Don't know if that has any bearing on this discussion, though.

[Kaylyn]

I have a horrible memory so the 3G is useful for me. If I'm at work, where there's no wifi, and hear about a book on the radio or on a podcast that sounds interesting I can look it up as soon as I get stopped, rather than try to remember it when I get home.

I haven't noticed any way to create your own files within the Kindle itself. However, I copy and paste my knitting and crochet projects to .txt files and upload them directly to the Kindle. It will also read .pdfs, though the readability depends on how the .pdf was created.

Edit: and no, whether or not you have any devices on 3G already doesn't matter. It works off existing 3G networks. So basically, almost any cell tower in existence.

[Minneyar]

When you plug the Kindle into your computer via its USB cable, your computer just treats it like an external hard drive with around 3 GB of free space. You can copy whatever you want on to it, although the Kindle can only display certain formats. The Kindle doesn't make a great writing device, unfortunately; the keyboard is pretty much only useful while using the web browser and for adding notes to existing books (although I have seen some people suggest that you could just copy over a blank .txt file and add notes to that).

For me, I dropped the extra $50 on 3G because it's only $50 and I like having internet access almost anywhere. ;-) There are no monthly fees, and supposedly it's free for life (but of course, that actually means it's free for as long as AT&T feels like it). It can also be used with the web browser, of course, but there's no need for 3G if you don't expect to be using your Kindle to surf the web when you're away from a wireless router. Your plan with your cell phone company isn't related, though -- Amazon handles the set up themselves.

[Darkwolf]

The major difference between Wi-Fi and 3G is the area you would be able to get service. Wi-Fi is simply the wireless network in your home or a coffee shop. 3G is basically cell phone service. It has a much greater coverage area than Wi-Fi, anywhere you get cell signal you would in theory be able to use the 3G function on a kindle, but it is slower than an in home wireless connection. You would only be able to use the Wi-Fi where someone had wireless Internet available like a coffee shop or a friend's house. Hope that makes some sense as I have entirely to much blood in my caffeine stream at the moment.

[Jester]

So let me see if I have this correct. (I'm kinda slow sometimes.) I can browse the net and buy books anywhere with the 3G version, and I won't pay any extra monthly charge for this service. With the wi-fi version, I can browse the net and buy books wherever I can get wi-fi. Now, is there a charge for using wi-fi? Do I have to pay a monthly fee, or a per-use fee? And to whom?

Also, I CAN download text files (such as recipes) to my Kindle? Would these appear as e-ink files, like the books in the Kindle, or would they look just like they look in Word?

Once I have the answers to the above questions, I will pretty much be ready to purchase my Kindle.

[Kaylyn]

There's no charge for using 3G or wi-fi, as long as the place you're at doesn't charge for its wi-fi service. The only fees you have to pay are the actual costs of the e-books, unless they're free of course.

You can transfer text files to the Kindle. Just make sure they're in .txt or .rtf format when you save them, then hook the Kindle to your USB port. It will appear as an external storage device; then you drag the file over to the Documents or eBooks folder on the Kindle, whichever it is (mine's not hooked up so I can't check, but I have done it as I've transferred a couple of knitting patterns to the Kindle). Text files appear as text-only in the Kindle, with the default font the Kindle uses (not sure if you can change this; I made the file in Notepad with Unicode and haven't tried seeing if you can change fonts).

Here's the file types that work with Kindle:

* Microsoft Word (.DOC)
* Structured HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
* RTF (.RTF)
* JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
* GIF (.GIF)
* PNG (.PNG)
* BMP (.BMP)
* PDF (.PDF): Look below for details.
* Microsoft Word (.DOCX) is supported in our experimental category.

There's a service where you can email formatted documents to a special address and it will be converted to the Kindle format. You have to set up a sent-from email address in your account. I don't know how the formatting works if you just send it straight to the device.

[Jester]

There's no charge for using 3G or wi-fi, as long as the place you're at doesn't charge for its wi-fi service.

If that is the case, why does Amazon advertise that there is no charge for the 3G, but they say no such thing for the wi-fi? Just wondering.

There's a service where you can email formatted documents to a special address and it will be converted to the Kindle format. You have to set up a sent-from email address in your account. I don't know how the formatting works if you just send it straight to the device.

And is this service free or does it cost anything?